An economist says his pessimism about Newfoundland and Labrador's future is dwindling following the announcement of a proposed new deal for power out of Churchill Falls.

The Opposition Tories want Newfoundland and Labrador’s privacy commissioner to look at what they call a Liberal cabinet minister’s “highly inappropriate” handling of an access-to-information request, which they believe contravenes the law.

Aisle 24 is open 24/7, but isn’t always staffed. The CBC’s Darryl Dinn looks at the hybrid retail experience in Labrador City that’s a first of its kind in N.L., and what shoppers are saying about it.

Work will be conducted on the westbound lane of the overpass on Pitts Memorial Drive today where it crosses the Trans-Canada Highway.

The work starts around 7:00 a.m. on the overpass.

While work is ongoing, this section of the highway will be temporarily closed for up to 10 minutes.

Motorists are asked to exercise caution in the area.

Premier Andrew Furey is in Labrador today, selling his new Churchill Falls agreement with Quebec.

Furey spoke with indigenous groups, and visited the company town of Churchill Falls. NTV’s Ben Cleary has more in this report.

Federal officials were also on hand to support this week’s Churchill Falls announcement.

There were questions about how Donald Trump’s tariff threats might affect power exports.

NTV’s Bailey Howard tells us more.

Lots of Premiers before Andrew Furey have tried to develop Gull Island and reopen the Churchill Falls contract, but with no success. NTV’s Beth Penney spoke with some former Premiers to get their reaction to the new agreement. 

It’s been over four weeks since Canada Post workers took to the picket line calling for a fair deal. But as NTV’s Becky Daley tells us, workers might be forced back to work as early as next week.

Food banks across the province are gearing up for a busy Christmas season, but one group in Grand Falls-Windsor says they’re concerned that more coordination is needed to make sure no one is missed, and services aren’t duplicated.

NTV’s Colleen Lewis has that story.

Tonight in Your Community NTV’s Marykate O’Neill tells us how the St. John’s Junior Caps are continuing a tradition this holiday season to help the guests of the Gathering Place. 

Police were called to the Avalon Mall parking lot around 4:30 p.m. Thursday after a Metrobus caught fire. All passengers were evacuated without injuries. A passenger put out the fire before emergency crews arrived.

The high-profile construction project was built to improve access to the busy, and ever-growing Galway development and reduce traffic on Pitts Memorial Drive. It was a unique project in that motorists didn’t notice the major work — at least when it came to slow downs — as a four-lane diversion was built as a temporary measure.

Next week marks the 60th anniversary of a fatal police shooting that is still vividly remembered in Whitbourne.

On Dec. 17, 1964, 24-year-old RCMP Constable Robert Amey was shot dead after tracking down a group of convicts who had escaped from Her Majesty’s Penitentiary.

Const. Amey and his partner had set up a road block on the under-construction Trans-Canada Highway in hopes of cutting the fugitives off.

But they blew through the roadblock in a stolen car, and ended up in Whitbourne.

RCMP Constable Robert Amey (Submitted/RCMP)

Amey and his partner caught up with the fugitives and they ended up in a physical altercation. During the melee one of the escapees wrestled Amey’s partner’s sidearm away from him and fired the gun, killing Amey instantly.

RCMP participated in a memorial service in Whitbourne last weekend at the Anglican Church of Saint John the Baptist.

Amey was one of two RCMP officers who lost their lives in the line of duty in Newfoundland and Labrador. The other was 21-year-old Constable Terrence Hoey who was shot in a standoff at the Harbourview Cafe in Botwood in 1958.

Constable William Moss, who was struck in the head and killed in the Badger Riot in 1959, was a member of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary.

A 23-year-old Portugal Cove-St. Philips man, who is already before the courts, has once again been arrested and charged with child luring and extortion as part of a joint investigation into online child exploitation.

William Vey was arrested and charged after a search warrant was conducted on a home in the town on Wednesday.

The RCMP-RNC Integrated Internet Child Exploitation Unit seized a number of items at that time.

Vey is charged with child luring, extortion and failing to comply with a release order.

He is already before the court in relation to charges laid in April of 2023 stemming from a separate joint investigation into online child exploitation.

He is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday on the latest charges against him, and has another court date set for January 13th on the original charges.

Police say the investigations are continuing.

The ECCC NL Weather Office in Gander released public information statements earlier today highlighting the records set across the Province on Thursday, December 12, 2024. I’ve copied and pasted those statements below.

The following areas set a daily maximum temperature record on 
December 12, 2024 (temperature values given in degrees Celsius): 

CHURCHILL FALLS AREA (Churchill Falls) 
New record of 9.0 
Old record of 5.7 set in 1991 
Records in this area have been kept since 1968 

HAPPY VALLEY-GOOSE BAY AREA (Goose Bay A) 
New record of 12.8 
Old record of 10.0 set in 1950 
Records in this area have been kept since 1941 

NAIN AREA (Nain A) 
New record of 5.3 
Old record of 3.5 set in 1989 
Records in this area have been kept since 1984 

WABUSH LAKE AREA (Wabush A) 
New record of 2.5 
Old record of 2.2 set in 1969 
Records in this area have been kept since 1960 

Note: the temperature records reported here have been derived from a 
selection of historical stations in each geographic area that were 
active during the period of record. 

In addition, the following locations set new MONTHLY records for the 
highest temperature recorded during the month of December. 

CARTWRIGHT AREA (Cartwright A) 
New record of 14.1 
Old record of 13.7 set on Dec 19, 2023 
Records have been kept in this area since 

HAPPY VALLEY-GOOSE BAY AREA (Goose Bay A) 
New record of 12.8 
Old record of 12.2 set on Dec 19, 2023 
Records in this area have been kept since 1941

BONAVISTA AREA (Bonavista) 
New record of 14.5 
Old record of 14.4 set in 2008 
Records in this area have been kept since 1956 

BURGEO AREA (Burgeo Nl) 
New record of 10.6 
Old record of 10.1 set in 2021 
Records in this area have been kept since 1939 

CHANNEL - PORT AUX BASQUES AREA (Port Aux Basques) 
New record of 9.8 
Old record of 9.3 set in 1993 
Records in this area have been kept since 1898 

DANIEL'S HARBOUR AREA (Daniel's Harbour) 
New record of 18.1 
Old record of 15.6 set in 1957 
Records in this area have been kept since 1946 

DEER LAKE AREA (Deer Lake A) 
New record of 14.7 
Old record of 14.3 set in 2008 
Records in this area have been kept since 1933 

GANDER AREA (Gander Intl A) 
Tied record of 14.7 set in 2008 
Records in this area have been kept since 1937 

LA SCIE AREA (La Scie) 
New record of 12.9 
Old record of 12.5 set in 2008 
Records in this area have been kept since 1977 

ST. LAWRENCE AREA (St Lawrence) 
New record of 13.1 
Old record of 10.9 set in 2021 
Records in this area have been kept since 1966 

TERRA NOVA (Terra Nova Nat Park CS) 
New record of 15.2 
Old record of 14.0 set in 2008 
Records in this area have been kept since 1962 

TWILLINGATE AREA (Twillingate (AUT)) 
New record of 13.9 
Old record of 13.3 set in 2008 
Records in this area have been kept since 1950 

WINTERLAND AREA (Winterland Branch Hill) 
New record of 15.0 
Old record of 13.4 set in 2008 
Records in this area have been kept since 1970 

Note: the temperature records reported here have been derived from a 
selection of historical stations in each geographic area that were 
active during the period of record. 

In addition, the following locations set or tied new MONTHLY records 
for the highest temperature recorded during the month of December. 

ST. LAWRENCE AREA (St Lawrence) 
New record of 13.1 
Old record of 12.7 set on Dec 7, 2008 
Records have been kept in this area since 

WINTERLAND AREA (Winterland Branch Hill) 
Tied record of 15.0 
Old record of 15.0 set on Dec 10, 2017 
Records in this area have been kept since 1941

The RNC is investigating after gunshots were fired in the area of Canada Drive in St. John’s.

Calls started coming in around 6:00 Wednesday evening from people reporting what they thought sounded like gunshots. Patrol officers canvassed the area. They could find no witnesses or anyone with injuries at that time.

However, members of the CID later confirmed property damage caused by gunshots, in what they believe was a targeted attack.

The RNC is seeking any possible CCTV or dash cam footage from the area of Frecker Drive, Burgeo Street, Topsail Road and Cowan Avenue between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, December 11th.

Anyone with information is asked to call RNC or Crime Stoppers.

A 33-year-old wanted man has been charged after an attempt was made to pull him over in connection with an ongoing drug trafficking investigation.

RCMP were in the process of obtaining a search warrant for a home in Grand Falls-Windsor in the wee hours of December 11th, when a vehicle, allegedly driven by Corey Killam, was spotted on Bond Street.

Police attempted to pull the vehicle over, but it sped away.

The vehicle in question was found abandoned later that morning, and seized.

Officers later surrounded a home on Second Street, and Killam and a 29-year-old woman were arrested without further incident. A search warrant yielded a quantity of drugs, drug paraphernalia and other items.

Killam is charged with flight from police, dangerous driving, drug trafficking, and failing to comply with a release order.

The woman was released to appear in court on a charge of drug trafficking.

A settlement that would see the three big tobacco giants cough up billions of dollars in compensation to the provinces, territories and smokers themselves, has been approved by the companies’ creditors.

But the Canadian Cancer Society says the proposed deal in this country is missing some key elements that are included in the U.S. settlement.

The $32.5-billion agreement between the companies — JTI-Macdonald Corp., Rothmans, Benson & Hedges and Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. — and their creditors was announced in October after more than five years of negotiations.

Lawyers for the creditors, which include provincial governments seeking to recoup smoking-related health-care costs, mostly voted to approve the deal on Thursday.

But it must still be approved by the court, with a hearing scheduled for late January to do just that.

At least one of the companies has said it opposes the plan in its current form. It includes $24 billion for provinces and territories, $4 billion for thousands of Quebec smokers and their families, and more than $2.5 billion for smokers in other provinces and territories.

Markus Spiske / Unsplash

There’s also more than $1 billion for a foundation to help those affected by tobacco-related diseases.

But the Canadian Cancer Society still calls it “insufficient” because it contains no program or policy to actually target and reduce tobacco use, which is part of the previous U.S. settlement.

The cancer society is calling for changes, before it’s approved, to allow the new foundation to be able to fund programs to reduce smoking such as cessation and awareness campaigns, as well as banning tobacco promotion.

And they’re seeking the support of provincial governments for those amendments.

“The U.S. deal established a foundation to reduce tobacco use that continues to this day; restricted tobacco industry marketing, and made public millions of pages of internal industry documents,” the Canadian Cancer Society said in a statement.

“However, none of these measures are in the proposed Canadian settlement.”

Former Liberal Premier Roger Grimes had a deal in the works with Quebec on Gull Island over 20 years ago, but it never got done.

Former PC Premier Danny Williams won the subsequent election in 2003, met with then-Quebec Premier Jean Charest, but was turned down when he tried to connect Gull Island to redress on the Upper Churchill.

Things went downhill from there, says Grimes, eventually leading to the construction of Muskrat Falls, a project which would double in cost, and run years behind schedule.

“Jean Charest told him that he was kinda crazy. So Danny went on a six- or seven-year binge saying ‘ya gotta hate Quebec, they’re the enemy, they’re obstructionist’ — none of which was true, by the way,” says Grimes.

“But (Danny) had the podium, he had the microphone. That was the line he took, and that’s what he preached for the rest of his time in office.”

Premier Andrew Furey and former Premier Danny Williams at Confederation Building recently. (VOCM News)

Grimes says if Williams had simply focused on Gull Island instead of Muskrat Falls, the province would be a lot further ahead today.

“Danny, in his typical style because he didn’t get what he wanted, took a bit of a hissyfit, got a bit savage, decided to become the fighting Newfoundlander, decided he wanted to be popular, and one of the ways to do that was to say Quebec was the enemy. I’m glad that Premier Furey didn’t fall into any of those traps.”

Williams reacted to Grimes’ comments in a brief statement to VOCM News.

“I have always said that poor Roger is more to be pittied than blamed.”

The RNC is investigating a weapons offence that occurred in the west end of St. John’s.

Just after 6 p.m. Wednesday, multiple units of the RNC descended on Canada Drive after reports of what sounded like gunshots. A canvass and search of the area showed no visible damage, and there were no witnesses or injuries reported. Members of the Criminal Investigation Division continued to investigate and have since confirmed property damage from gunshots. This is believed to be a targeted event.

The RNC is asking anyone with information or video footage (CCTV, dash-camera, cell phone) from the area bordered by Frecker Drive, Burgeo Street, Topsail Road, and Cowan Avenue, between 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Wednesday to contact police at 709-729-8000.

Fifty-two-year-old Todd Hewlett of Springdale was arrested by Springdale RCMP on Dec. 11 in relation to a number of recent thefts.

Hewlett was arrested at a traffic stop that was conducted in Springdale on Wednesday, operating a vehicle that had been involved in a number of recent shoplifting incidents. The vehicle was uninsured and unregistered and was seized and impounded.

Hewlett is charged with the following criminal offences:

• Theft under $5,000 from shoplifting – three counts
• Breach of undertaking

In addition, he is charged under the Highway Traffic Act with the following violations:

• Operating a vehicle without insurance
• Operating an unregistered vehicle

Hewlett has been released on conditions. He is set to appear in court in January.

RCMP in Sheshatshiu are continuing to pursue a 27-year-old man wanted in relation to an alleged assault.

Police say Devon Gregoire is known to frequent the Coronation Street area of Sheshatshiu, but they say his current whereabouts are unknown.

Gregoire is described as six feet, one inch tall, and between 160 and 180 pounds, with black hair.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Devon Gregoire is asked to contact Sheshatshiu RCMP or Crime Stoppers.

The federal government says it may intervene in the Canada Post strike afterall.

Ottawa has stayed out of the dispute until now, giving the corporation and union an opportunity to settle their differences and get the mail moving again.

But during a news conference this morning, federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon said if the Canada Industrial Relations Board determines that an agreement is unlikely by the end of this year, the government will order strikers back to work.

The key sticking points in the strike continue to be wages, job security and potential expansion into weekend delivery.

The holiday rush is in full swing. For some, Christmas gifts in limbo are a source of frustration. As the CBC’s Leila Beaudoin reports, local retailers are scrambling to try and get products to customers during what is already the busiest time of the year.

The Innu Nation grand chief says the newly announced memorandum of understanding on Churchill Falls power between Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec will greatly benefit the Innu.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has threatened to turn off its supply of power to the United States if President-Elect Donald Trump makes good on threats to impost 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian exports to the U.S.

But the premiers of Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador are urging cooler heads to prevail.

Premier Andrew Furey says he has no desire to enter into a trade war with the United States.

“From Newfoundland and Labrador’s perspective, we have no interest in stopping the flow of oil and gas — our incredibly valuable and now well-sought-after world-class oil and gas — to the United States, nor do we now have any interest in stopping export of any electrons that could be produced in Labrador to the northeastern seaboard.”

Quebec Premier Francois Legault, who met with Trump in Paris last week, agrees a trade war is not the answer.

“(Trump) told me very clearly that we can avoid those tariffs if we do what needs to be done with the borders” to stem the flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S. from Canada, said Legault.

“I think the best choice now for Prime Minister Trudeau is to table a plan with money, with the number of people, to better secure the border.”

Furey, who spoke with New England governors earlier this week, acknowledged there is a “significant degree of concern on both sides of the border” when it comes to the prospect of tariffs.

RCMP in Glovertown have issued an arrest warrant for a man wanted on a number of charges.

Thirty-one-year-old Brandon Bungay is charged with two counts of assault, and one count each of being unlawfully in a house and uttering threats.

Bungay is known to frequent the areas of Dover and Centreville, but his current whereabouts are not known and he is believed to be actively evading police.

Anyone with information about Brandon Bungay or his whereabouts is urged to contact the RCMP or Crime Stoppers.

Glovertown RCMP is looking to arrest 31-year-old Brendan Bungay who is actively evading police.

Bungay is charged with the following criminal offences:

• Assault – two counts
• Unlawfully in a dwelling
• Uttering threats

Bungay has been known to frequent the areas of Dover and Centreville, however, his current whereabouts are unknown.

Anyone having information about the current location of Brandan Bungay is asked to contact Glovertown RCMP at 709-533-2828 or, to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers: #SayItHere 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), visit www.nlcrimestoppers.com or use the P3Tips app.

On Saturday, December 14, work will be conducted on the westbound lane of the overpass on Pitts Memorial Drive where it crosses the Trans-Canada Highway.

The work will begin around 7:00 a.m. on the overpass.

While work is ongoing, this section of the highway will be temporarily closed for up to 10 minutes.

Motorists are asked to exercise caution in the area.

Tomorrow CB Nuit will debut in St. John’s.

The event takes place at The Colonial Building from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

The festival, from Corner Brook, will feature art, performances, and music.

Additionally, there will be an opening ceremony in the Council Chamber from 6:00 p.m. to 6:30 pm.

There will be a special sitting in the House of Assembly to debate the new deal with Quebec on the Upper Churchill River.

Opposition parties called for such a debate in the legislature even before the agreement was announced yesterday.

And Premier Andrew Furey agreed, assuring reporters that MHAs will have an opportunity to debate and vote on the deal.

“I have said from day one, since becoming premier, when there was discussion around this historic and generational opportunity, that this M.O.U. would be debated in the House. And it will be, in a special sitting in early January,” he said.

“We want everyone to consider it. It is win, win, win for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.”

Next Tuesday will mark the 60th Anniversary of the in line of duty death of RCMP Constable Robert Amey who was one of two RCMP officers shot and killed while on duty in the province.

This past Sunday, at the Anglican Church of Saint John the Baptist in Whitbourne, RCMP Commanding Officer, Assistant Commissioner Pat Cahill, joined by RCMP Chaplain and RCMP Members and Veterans, attended a memorial service in honour of Constable Amey, who was a parishioner at the church.

Constable Amey, originally from Pondville, Nova Scotia, was only 24 years old at the time of his death and had joined the RCMP on March 1st, 1962.

Whitbourne was his second and final posting.  He was laid to rest at the Anglican Churchyard in Arichat, Nova Scotia.

Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services is advising the public of an update regarding the availability of medical imaging services at Fogo Island Health Centre. 

Walk-in and emergency medical imaging services have resumed and are available Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

After-hours emergency medical imaging services continue to be unavailable, however, this temporary disruption will not affect the services provided by the emergency department.

It was a warm one in the province yesterday with some records being set.

Rodney Barney, a meteorologist at the Gander Weather Office, says Cartwright got up to 14.0 degrees, making it the warmest December day ever, breaking the old mark of 13.7 in 2023. Goose Bay hit 12.8 degrees yesterday, over half-a-degree warmer than any other December day in history.

The mercury climbed to 16.3 degrees in St. John’s yesterday afternoon, making it the fifth warmest December day in metro in history.

Long list of December 12 highs in the double digits!

New monthly records established at Goose Bay, Cartwright, and St. Lawrence, as well as a tie at Winterland. See previous posts. #nlwx pic.twitter.com/l3aSrMEUUG

— Rodney Barney (@rcbstormpost) December 12, 2024

A local business owner is one of many across the country who are scrambling to put announced GST rebates in place by tomorrow.

Peg Norman of The Travel Bug in downtown St. John’s says while she’s pleased with the measure, the job for her and her staff is trying to figure out what items are eligible without running afoul of auditors sometime down the road.

“We’ve been a couple of days now walking through the store and looking at individual items, trying to make decisions…because there’s been very little direction from the federal government on this,” says Norman. “Every day I go back into the Government of Canada website and look and see if they’ve done any updates, and as of Tuesday, there still wasn’t anything.”

Christmas is less than two weeks away and there are no signs that the postal strike is any closer to being resolved.

Rallies in support of striking CUP-W members are taking place today over the lunch hour outside the offices of metro-area MPs Joanne Thompson and Seamus O’Regan.

The President of the union’s St. John’s local, Craig Dyer, says the federal government, including MPs Thompson and O’Regan, “need to step up and tell Canada Post to negotiate a fair deal.”

Dyer accuses Canada Post executives of “lying” to the public, and that “they need to check the books and stop the mismanagement of the service.”

Today’s rallies get underway at noon.

Just before midnight last night the RNC were called to a disturbance at a business in the center city area of St. John’s.

The responding officer spoke with the victim and witnesses. As a result, a 37-year-old man was arrested for robbery and assault.

The accused was taken into custody and held to appear in court.

Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey is hitting the road to sell the new Churchill Falls agreement, which he says is worth $200 billion over the five decades to come. Meanwhile, opposition politicians are mull over the agreement's details.

Grand Chief Simon Pokue says the MOU between this province and Quebec regarding hydro-electric development is a good deal for everyone, especially the Innu Nation.

Premier Andrew Furey ripped up the old Upper Churchill agreement in front of a packed crowd at The Rooms in St. John’s yesterday, as both provinces announced a new deal that looks much different.

While ink has not been put to paper as of yet to make the new agreement binding, what is being proposed will inject billions of dollars into the province through a new payment structure for power from the Upper Churchill. It also paves the way for several new mega projects to be developed, including the highly sought after Gull Island.

That project is one the Innu Nation had previously said they would block if outstanding issues with rate mitigation were not addressed.

Proposed Gull Island project, courtesy Nalcor.

Pokue says at a meeting with the province in September those issues were rectified.

He didn’t get into much detail, only to say that they “struck a deal with the province, and it’s a good deal…and now we have a good relationship with the province.”

A new Information and Privacy Commissioner has been appointed.

Speaker of the House of Assembly Derek Bennett announced the appointment of Kerry Hatfield, effective December 5.

Hatfield takes over from Jackie Kavanagh, who served as acting Information and Privacy Commissioner during the search period.

Hatfield comes with extensive knowledge and experience in access and privacy issues from 20-plus years of legal practice, including 11 years providing legal strategy and advice to the Eastern Regional Health Authority. The Commissioner was made Director of Corporate Legal Services in 2022 upon the succession of NL Health Services from the previous regional health authorities. 

Hatfield has expertise in regulatory compliance in privacy, security, data governance and information management within the health care sector and broad base experience in corporate governance, contracts and procurement.

Before working in the health care sector, she was a partner in private practice at a St. John’s law firm.

It wasn’t hard for police to trace a vehicle theft to a man who was walking around with the evidence in his pocket.

RNC were tipped off about a suspicious person in Conception Bay South yesterday afternoon. Officers recognized the 31-year-old as someone on their wanted list.

He was arrested on several outstanding warrants, but will face additional charges after a set of keys in his pocket was traced to a stolen vehicle.

He was taken to the lockup.

If you’ve ever enjoyed a dance or a mean game of bingo at a small community centre there’s a good chance a certain group was behind it: your local Lions Club. For over 75 years, this network has been fundraising, organizing events, and knocking on doors in the name of their communities.

A documentary is in the works to showcase the people and potential of an inclusive choir in St. John's. One member says it has changed his life for the better.

Lawmakers are urging federal officials to address mysterious drone sightings in New Jersey and New York, with the White House dismissing security threats. House Speaker Mike Johnson anticipates a classified briefing, while the Biden administration reassures no confirmed drone activity poses a danger. Senators have requested briefing on the drones. (NBC News)

Supporters of murder suspect Luigi Mangione are raising funds for his defense, sparking concerns about turning him into a martyr as prosecutors pursue charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Online fundraisers have collected over $50,000, with many expressing solidarity and belief in fair legal representation for Mangione. (ABC News)

Time magazine named Donald Trump as the 2024 Person of the Year for his return to the U.S. presidency, citing his unlikely remaking of American politics. Time editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs called Trump's amazing return to power a "comeback of historic propositions" Trump was also named Person of the Year when he was first elected in 2016. (CBS News)

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a rule to limit bank and credit union lending fees, potentially saving consumers $5 billion yearly. The rule aims to provide transparency on overdraft loan interest rates. (CBS News)

A Pew Research Center report published Thursday revealed that almost half of American teenagers are online constantly, with YouTube being the top platform. TikTok and Snapchat saw slight decreases in usage, while X experienced the most significant decline. The report raises concerns about social media's impact on teen mental health. (AP)

The Bank of Canada has reduced its key interest rate to 3.25 per cent, which is great news for people with mortgages coming due, or those in the market for a financial product such as a car loan.

That’s according to David Buckingham, V-P with Janes Noseworthy Insolvency Trustees in St. John’s.

He says the reduction in interest rates may not have as profound an effect in this province as in downtown Toronto, simply due to the cost of housing.

David Buckingham. (VOCM News)

Buckingham says residents of Newfoundland and Labrador are doing everything they can to keep their homes, and everything to keep payments current.

He says people who take out a second mortgage at a very high interest find themselves in a tougher spot.

Buckingham says those who have expensive lines of credit will be some of the first to benefit from lower costs of borrowing.

“Anyone who’s up for mortgage renewal, now would be a good time to discuss things with your mortgage broker and to see if it would be a good time to renew and lock in.”

Larry Short of Short Financial says he’s delighted to see the latest interest rate cut, given the cooling economic climate.

“It’s very rare to see half-a-point cut any time, but to see two in a row back-to-back like this gives an indication of how serious the central bank is about stimulating growth back into Canada.”

A search of a home in Carter’s Cove in central Newfoundland has resulted in the seizure of dozens of firearms, as well as a quantity of illicit drugs and cash, which resulted in the arrest of a 26-year-old man.

RCMP, including those from the Gander detachment, attended the home on Point Road in Carter’s Cove in Notre Dame Bay, armed with a warrant.

Inside, they found and seized 25 long-gun firearms, ammunition, and what they’re calling “a prohibited weapon.”

Meanwhile, more than 30 grams of cocaine were also seized, along with a quantity of crack cocaine, approximately 650 pills of various types, and more than $10,000 in cash.

The accused was arrested without incident and later released. The investigation continues, with a number of charges expected.

The Independent MHA for Mount Pearl-Southlands is taking his demands for a review of the Youth Criminal Justice Act to the House of Commons in Ottawa.

Last week, in the wake of two violent attacks in Mount Pearl, Paul Lane asked Justice Minister Bernard Davis to lobby his federal counterparts for changes to the act.

Specifically, he wants stiffer penalties for young offenders who commit serious and violent acts.

Now, Lane has launched a petition in the House of Commons.

(Paul Lane in the House of Assembly.)

NL Conservative MP Clifford Small is sponsoring the petition and will present it at a future date.

Lane says so far the feedback from constituents regarding the petition has been positive.

He says most people seem to be on board with putting stronger deterrents in place, but some have also been raising the issue of root causes, “and they’re not to be dismissed.”

The petition is open for signatures until Feb. 9th.

The agreement with Quebec over Churchill Falls was to end in 2041, but Premier Andrew Furey is instead hailing it as effectively over. Speaking to reporters Thursday at The Rooms in St. John’s, he ripped a document to illustrate a metaphor. A sweeping new deal, announced with Quebec Premier Francois Legault, would see a potential $200 billion for N.L. over the next 50 years.